( 316 :^ 



Ilcbriiles. The si)ecics has developed, as far as we cau see, only into two snbsj)ecies, 

 a western one (caricae) and an eastern one (euroa), which are distinguished by very 

 sliirht differences, as noted below. The individuals from the Sunda Islands, though 

 intermediate in respect to some of the characters which distinguish caricii'. euroa 

 from earicne caricae, appear to be on the way to develop into a si)ecial race, about 

 25 per cent, of the specimens from Borneo, Java, and the lesser Sunda Islands being 

 entirely devoid of snbmarginal black spots to the hindwing, while among the two 

 liundred individuals in the Tring Museum from India, the Papuan Islands, and 

 North Qneeusland tliere is not one in which all the subniarginal black spots are 

 obliterated. 



The individual variation in the size and number of the black markings is con- 

 siderable in every locality ; the snbmarginal spots are sometimes enlarged so as to 

 form a marginal band resembling that of Axota paphos ; the sjwt between veins 

 2 and 3 is tlie last snbmarginal spot to disajjpear; the three large discal spots are 

 Will marked in all our specimens. K. J. 



". A. caricae euroa subsp. nov. 



Phalaoia Noctua caricai', Donovan (iiec Fabricius, 1775), fits. N. Hnll. t. 39. f. 2 (1805). 



Damdis atciplmn, Butler, Aim. Mag. X. II. (,o). XI. p. 425. n. 91 (1883) (Wild I., Admiralty Is.). 



Hyimi (ilcipliroii, Ribbe, Iris I. p. 87 (1885) (.\ru) ; Pagenst., Jahrb. Xas.s. Ver. Nat. p. 115. n. 254 



(1888) (Amboina) ; Hamps., .Votlw of Imlia I. p. 503. n. 1148 (1891) (Pi-oj).). 

 llypm rnWraf, Meyrick, Pr. Linn. Sue. N.S.W. p. 7G9. n. Ill (188G)(Cape York; Cook town) ; Luca.s, 



ibid. p. 1080 (1889) (Cape York to Mackay). 



Sir George Hampson (J-c.) remarks that "the iiirni from New Guinea and tlie 

 neighbouring gronps of islands is darker and brighter." The ground-colour of the 

 forewing is darker in the eastern than in the western form, henco the whitish 

 nervular lines are a little more prominent ; the basal orange area is slightly more 

 extended and brighter; on the underside the orange area of the forewing extends 

 beyond the black patch at the apex of the cell in most specimens, llindwings 

 brighter. Head and thorax of the bright colour of the base of the forewing, while 

 in caricae caricae from Continental India and Ceylon these parts arc nearly of the 

 dark ground-colour of the forewing. 



Ihib. Solomon Islands: Alu (tf/pc), Guadalcanar; New Ireland; Duke of York 

 Island; New Brifein; New Guinea; North Queensland; Aru; Key; Northern and 

 Southern Moluccas; Tenimber; Celebes; New Hebrides. 



In the specimens from the New Hebrides in the Tring Museum, only five in 

 number, the forewing is considerably paler than in the indiviiluals from the other 

 localities, being of an ochraceous fawn-colonr. We have here ])erhai)s another sub- 

 species, the characters of which would be very interesting in so far as the form 

 agrees in the colour of the thorax and base of the forewing with euroa, while in the 

 peculiar ochraceous fawn-colour of the rest of the forewing it differs more widely from 

 eui'oa than caricae does. As I shall probably receive more material from tlie New 

 Hebrides in the course of this or the next year, I prefer for the present to include the 

 caricae specimens from that gronj) of islands in caricae euroa. AV. IJ. 



Ij. a. caricae caricae. 



Snclua raWcac Fabricius, Sijxl. Ent. p. 59lj. n. 23 (177.i) (in Fiou Ind. or.); id.,.sV/.t(. Enl. III. 2. p. 27. 



n. G.3 (1793). 

 Plialaena Athicus alciphron Cramer, Pap. Exoi. II. p. 58. t. 133. f, E (1777) (Tranqnebar). 

 Phalama Noctua caricae, Goeze, Enl. Beytr. III. 3. p. 229. n. 2G7 (1781). 



